By DAVID DUPONT
BG Independent News
Chris Willis was home this weekend as he readies for the home stretch on his 57-day bicycle trek across the United States.
He left Anacortes, Washington, on June 7 planning to travel the more than 4,200 miles to Bar Harbor, Maine, in 57 days.
That route brought the associate professor in the Bowling Green State University College of Education and Human Development to Bowling Green where he was greeted by friends and colleagues.
“I knew it was going to be a great adventure, and it’s not disappointed in any way,” Willis said Monday by telephone before he hit the road again. “It’s been really amazing to see the country. It’s really amazing to meet people and see people in their home communities all across the country.”
But he continued: “I will say that two days at home made me excited about the fact that it’s only two weeks left until we’re home. There’s part of me that wants to be home for a while after being gone for so long. Still I’m looking forward to a lobster roll in Bar Harbor.”
With two weeks left, he said, “I’m grateful for the opportunity, grateful for all the folks that donated so that we can say ‘thank you’ to these public schools across the country.”
As part of the adventure, Willis set up a Pedal for Public Schools Fundly account to raise money that will be shared with the 51 school districts he’s staying in along the way. So far he’s raised about $10,000.
The donations continue to roll in “in fits and starts,” Willis said.
The hardest day was riding 118 miles in the rain through Minnesota.
Another particularly tough day came early in the trip when he pedaled through the Cascades. He had three hours of moving very slowly uphill. Each day in the Cascades as he navigated the Rainy and Washington passes, he had long climbs. The scenery, though, was beautiful, he said.
As he’s traveled he’s settled into a routine. He’s not concerned about hitting the road early.
“What I discovered is that it’s just better for me to take my time in the morning, relax and then roll out at 9 or 10.”
Even on Monday when he was expecting a hot ride to Lorraine, he was undeterred. “It’s supposed to be pretty steamy, but I’ve kind of gotten used to being hot and sweaty.”
Willis feels he was well prepared for the physical toll of the trip.
“One of the things I’ve focused on very early in the trip and continue to focus on is just managing myself. If I’m going 80 miles in a day I can’t go as fast on those 80 miles because I have to go 80 miles tomorrow. The mental game of keeping in mind the big picture of what you’re trying to accomplish has been part of the training that’s paid off the most, and something I’ve had to focus on the most, more than my physical ability.”
Along the way, he saw the landscape change, sometimes abruptly as when he moved through the Badlands and then found himself in prairies full of waving grass. Or as he moved through miles and miles of corn and soybean fields, and then as he entered Indiana noticing trees were mixed into the scenery.
Also, early on he and his son, George, who is driving the support vehicle, took a two-day rest break in Glacier National Park. “Every time you turn around there’s another view, another vista, another waterfall,” Willis said. “That whole area of Montana was really gorgeous and I was really glad to spend a little time there.”
The ride stayed on schedule, even if it meant taking driving the last few miles to the campground.
And he missed a section of the route when he left the road to attend a family funeral. “Life continues to happen whether I’ve planned a 57-day trip or not,” he said.
With the Green Mountains and White Mountains in northern New England still to come, that trip is just days from ending and that lobster roll on the Atlantic seashore is beckoning.
